Business 100 - 2008

Garrett Kelleher/Shelbourne Development Ltd.

Garrett Kelleher is executive chairman of Shelbourne Development Ltd and the Shelbourne Development Group, Inc. He owns substantial real estate investments in the U.S., Ireland, the UK, France and Belgium. Kelleher will own a significant share in The Chicago Spire Equity, the Santiago Calatrava designed building that will be the world’s tallest exclusively residential building and the tallest building in the western world.
A Dublin native, Kelleher moved to Chicago in the early 80’s, starting off as a subcontractor renovating apartments. Before moving into property development and investment, he owned one of the largest painting companies in the Midwest.

Kelleher moved back to Ireland in 1996 and has been involved in property development deals worth over 2.5 billion euros, not including The Chicago Spire. He considers Chicago his second home, and is a member of the Metropolitan Organizing Committee, a group dedicated to bringing the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to Chicago. Kelleher, who studied math at Trinity College Dublin, has seven children.